Four new Zeiss lenses for Nikon F mount

Photokina 2006: Zeiss has announced no less than four new ZF series manual focus prime lenses for Nikon F mount. First come the Distagon T* 35 mm F2.0 and 25 mm F2.8 ZF lenses, promising fast wide angle. Next the Makro-Planar T* 50 mm F2.0 and 100 mm F2.0 ZF lenses, a combination of excellent, sharp macro performance and a very fast maximum aperture. These lenses range in price from US$824 (the two Distagon lenses) to US$1,749 for the Makro-Planar 100 mm F2.0.

Distagon T* 2/35 ZF and Distagon T* 2,8/25 ZF

Two New Carl Zeiss High-Performance Lenses with Nikon F Mount

Carl Zeiss introduces two completely new wide-angle lenses with Nikon F mount. They cover full 35mm frame and can be used on both analog and digital SLRs. They focus manually and can produce sharpness well beyond the capabilities of the best color films available today. Both lenses feature a long-life all-metal barrel of very high precision.

The Distagon T* 2/35 ZF is a versatile all-round lens with moderate wide-angle coverage and high speed, a classical standard for photojournalistic work. Due to its high performance this lens can capture very detailed scenes with high accuracy and information content.

The Distagon T* 2,8/25 is a lens with pronounced wide-angle characteristics. It excels in dynamic architecture, landscape, and travel photography. Its sharpness goes far beyond any current color film. The minimum object distance of just two inches from the front element enables unique wide-angle close-ups.

The new lenses will be shipping as of: end of 2006

List prices:

Distagon T* 2,0/35 ZF: 699,00 EUR (without VAT) / $824 USD

Distagon T* 2,8/25 ZF: 699,00 EUR (without VAT) / $824 USD

Press Release:

Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZF and Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF

Two New Super Fast ZEISS ZF Macro Lenses with Nikon F Mount

At f/2, the new ZEISS Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZF and Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF are the fastest macro lenses for 35mm full-frame photography today - whether for film or digital capture. The two new lenses focus manually from infinity to ½-life size, capturing an object field of approximately 50x70mm at the close-focus limit. All of the ZEISS ZF lenses feature precision metal mechanics, providing the photographer with a durable, reliable tool of lasting value.

A ‘floating element’ optical system enables the Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZF to deliver very high image quality over the entire focusing range. The Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF goes several steps further by employing an optical design originally developed for the ARRI/ZEISS Master Prime T* 1.2/100 – an ultra-high performance lens for big budget feature films. Thus, the Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF lens offers an optical performance never before available for still photography, especially at wide-open apertures and in macro applications. This lens allows photographers to use selective focus on important details with unprecedented clarity, effectively isolating the subject from distracting surroundings. This is a common technique used by Directors of Photography in the Cine industry to direct the viewer’s attention and create what admirers call the ‘film look’.

In addition to professional and general-purpose photography, the two new Makro-Planar ZF lenses were also designed for use in a broad variety of industrial, scientific, space applications, machine vision, robotics, instrumentation, documentation and surveillance applications.

The new Makro-Planar lenses are scheduled for shipment during Q1 2007 and join the ZEISS ZF family of manual focus, precision lenses for the Nikon F-mount and featuring full Nikon AI-S compatibility. The ZEISS ZF range now includes 6 different lens types with focal lengths ranging from 25mm to 100mm.

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